Econ/Public Policy PhD Profile evaluation

[ronie]

I'm have applied for fall of 2016, for the following programs and need a feedback on chances of intake considering my profile:

Program: PhD Economics/Social Policy (research focus on developmental economics, policy making and political economy)

School Applying to:  UMass Amherst (Econ), SUNY Albany (Public Administration and Policy), UMass Boston (Public Policy), American University DC (Economics), New School (Economics), Heller School, Brandeis (Public Policy), Syracuse (Public Administartion)

Undergrad Institution: Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology (local college moderate reputation)

Undergrad GPA: 3.95  

Major/Minor: Computer Science and Engineering

Grad Institution: Hochschule Pforzheim, Germany

Grad GPA: 3.84 (till 3rd semester)

Major/Minor: MBA International Management

GRE: Verbal 156, Quants 166, AWA 4.0

Age: 26

Years of Work Experience: 3

Published Work: None

Languages: Bengali, English, Hindi, German (limited working proficiency)

Work Experience: Worked at TCS for 2.6 years (Systems Engineer), SAP for 8 months as Working Student (currently employed)

Quant Experience: Engineering Mathematics (undergraduate) includes Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra and Intermediate Statistics

Strength of LoR 1: Professor, who is Vice Dean of the Business School at HS Pforzheim, previously Scientific Managing Director at Institute for Applied Economic Research at Tübingen 

Strength of LoR 2: Professor,  HS Pforzheim, previously at Institute for Applied Economic Research at Tübingen 

Strength of LoR 3:  Professor at HS Pforzheim

Concerns: Funding, Previous relevant experience
 

 

[CakeTea]

Just curious, in Germany grads from FHs (ex-Polies) may not transition to German PhD programmes. One would struggle to meet FH grads at any reputable PhD programmes. 

What areas of DevEcon (Education, Macro, FDI, labour, population) are you interested in? Your mid tier target unis are diverse, but I can't see a cluster of clear research areas. Do you prefer IPE over DevEcon and how much required econ work have you done in yr BA/MSc? 

 

[ronie]

I am interested in Education, macro and population mostly and although not a strong distinction but IPE would be preferable over DevEcon. As a part of Bachelors/Masters, I have taken courses in Micro, Macro, International Economics and Financial Markets. However, they would be mostly introductory level and not intermediate. My background in Mathematics is quite advanced though. As for concentration on research areas, I would say they are mostly in the poverty alleviation, developmental econ and political economy areas.  

[CakeTea]

What are the responses from tutors and potential PhD supervisors? Are they supportive and encourage your application despite the ehh non traditional educational background? You are asking for a lot of faith with a) non compatible foreign schools and  different degree without prior econ work. You have not shown much work (seminars, research, dissertation, field work) in DevEcon. Applied Sciences Schools are like Community Colleges in the US and even lower ranked German unis won't accept Applied Sciences grads into PhD programmes (Source: Promotionsordnung). The general admission rates at good US PhD Econ programmes: 4-6%.

There are a few talented maths and physics grads who enter a PhD programme in economics. Their research is mostly in econometrics or finance and they have done some undergrad work such as dissertation. But they continue either at same uni and are known to supervisors or come from well recognised schools.

 

[publicaffairsstudent]

Your profile is very good. I would like to see more formal coursework in mathematics, but as an undergraduate engineering and comp sci major, I believe you have more fluency in these methodologies than the 3 math courses you listed. I'm interested in educational policy as well, and really excited about the intersection with computer science, especially in terms of applying new data science and machine learning methodologies to public policy applications. I applied to Syracuse and Albany too, I really hope to see you there! I expect you should have at least one offer from your list with a standard funding package.